Question Regarding Playoff Schedule

[B&G]

Apparently the local news in SC has been broadcasting that SCSU will play on 11/29 for the playoffs. Are there Friday games this season? If so, then how can they know that SCSU will be playing on Saturday? Have they gotten ahead of themselves or might there be some of that info leaked already? xeyebrowx

[MorgantonAPPAlum]

I don't see how they can possibly know, but maybe they are projecting SC State's playoff date based on when the MEAC team from last year (Del. St.) played. IIRC that was a Friday game (vs. Delaware), featured on ESPN because it was the first time these two programs had met. I don't think any SC State playoff game will carry with it the same kind of novelty (though a game between SC State and Wofford would almost certainly be a sellout in Orangeburg, and definitely so in the smaller Gibbs Stadium in Spartanburg), so I don't think it is reasonable to assume they will get a Friday game on national TV.

[Dukie95]

They aren't doing the Friday night game in round one this year. It's in the handbook.

[B&G]

That answers that question then. Thanks.

[MaroonDoom]

How about EKU/ Appy on ESPN2 Friday night?

[Grizzaholic]

How about EKU/ Appy on ESPN2 Friday night?

Maybe it is just me but I don't like Friday night games. ESPN2 or not. For some reason there just doesn't seem to be as much electricity in the air as a game on Saturday.

[jus10asu]

Maybe it is just me but I don't like Friday night games. ESPN2 or not. For some reason there just doesn't seem to be as much electricity in the air as a game on Saturday.

There was plenty electricity in the air on Helloween at The Rock...that was a Friday.

[T-Dog]

Maybe it is just me but I don't like Friday night games. ESPN2 or not. For some reason there just doesn't seem to be as much electricity in the air as a game on Saturday.

We've had two in the last year (07 semis vs Richmond and Halloween vs Wofford) and both were very electric. Of course I think it's only for special occasions (the Richmond game was because the Delaware team got stuck in Iowa) but so far we're 2 for 2 in terms of keeping the electricity.

Our overall attendance record and playoff attendance record came on those two Friday games. And they both had the big fight atmosphere that night that you can feel. Or course it helped that both teams were highly ranked and the timing for both worked out.

Of course I wouldn't give up our regular Saturday 3:30 EST games, but I wouldn't mind one night game a year on Friday or Saturday (preferably Saturday), especially for a big conference game. We had Presby this year on a Saturday night and with our lackluster performance added on to the bad weather, it was probably the least electric home game this year.

It also depends on the area the school is in. If a good number of fans would rather go to high school games on Friday than a college game, then that's a problem. And if fans can't travel on a Friday as well as a Saturday, then that's another problem.

[Grizzaholic]

There was plenty electricity in the air on Helloween at The Rock...that was a Friday.

I understand that was also on a holiday.

[MaroonDoom]

Yes it was quite electric for ASU that night. Great & scary performance all at the same time.

[Grizzaholic]

We've had two in the last year (07 semis vs Richmond and Halloween vs Wofford) and both were very electric. Of course I think it's only for special occasions (the Richmond game was because the Delaware team got stuck in Iowa) but so far we're 2 for 2 in terms of keeping the electricity.

Our overall attendance record and playoff attendance record came on those two Friday games. And they both had the big fight atmosphere that night that you can feel. Or course it helped that both teams were highly ranked and the timing for both worked out.

Of course I wouldn't give up our regular Saturday 3:30 EST games, but I wouldn't mind one night game a year on Friday or Saturday (preferably Saturday), especially for a big conference game. We had Presby this year on a Saturday night and with our lackluster performance added on to the bad weather, it was probably the least electric home game this year.

It also depends on the area the school is in. If a good number of fans would rather go to high school games on Friday than a college game, then that's a problem. And if fans can't travel on a Friday as well as a Saturday, then that's another problem.

That right there is a big thing for us fans in Montana. we cannot just head down the road for an hour or so and get to the game. We have a lot of fans that come from 2,3,4 hundred miles, some come from farther.

I am sure there are some fans that will chime in on this post saying that they also have to drive for a hundred miles or more but it is not the same, trust me.

[T-Dog]

I think one thing that helped us on our Friday games was that student turnout was greater than usual and more than made up for folks that couldn't make the drive. Most of our alum travel anywhere from 25-200 miles (Charlotte, the Triad and the Triangle) and on those Friday games, the alum count was definitely less than a Saturday game, but as I noticed at the Wofford game, there were a lot of students. The grass hill usually has a small number of student out there and it's more of a picnic atmopshere out there on a Saturday. On Halloween, it was 75-80% students out there. And the stadium sections for students were full.

Not saying we have a poor turnout of students on Saturday because we don't. It's just a small percentage of students just don't go to the games because they either go home, do homework, work or something of the sort.

[JayJ79]

The ESPN website has a list of postseason college sports events (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2986748) in 2008-09 on the ESPN family of networks, which includes the following FCS playoff games:

Nov 29 FCS first round 12:00 p.m. ESPNUHD

Dec 6 FCS quarterfinal No. 1 12:00 p.m. ESPN360
Dec 6 FCS quarterfinal No. 2 2:00 p.m. ESPN360
Dec 6 FCS quarterfinal No. 3 3:30 p.m. ESPN360
Dec 6 FCS quarterfinal No. 4 7:00 p.m. ESPN360

Dec 12 FCS semifinal No. 1 8:00 p.m. ESPN2HD, ESPN36-
Dec 13 FCS semifinal No. 2 4:00 p.m. ESPN2HD, ESPN360

Dec 19 FCS national championship 8:00 p.m. ESPN2HD, ESPN360

Times are for the Eastern TZ, and I imagine there is always the possibility of change. But that's what they list.

Obviously, they don't list all the 1st round games, as it looks like they are just televising one. But usually the only reason the NCAA sets up Fri. games is for television coverage, so w/o that, all the games will be on Sat. 11/29